THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 28, 1996 TAG: 9606280605
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: 81 lines
Buffalo Bills star Jim Kelly lofted some perfect spirals Thursday morning for the 175 players attending football camp on the campus of William and Mary, but mainly the quarterback was in town to pass off some sound advice.
``If you want something bad enough, you've got to work at it; nothing comes easy,'' Kelly told the group that ranged from eighth-graders to rising seniors in high school. ``Set your goals when you're young, because as you get older, you might say, `I wish I would have done this. I wish I would have done that.' ''
Wearing a Nike cap and black shades, Kelly roamed from drill to drill imparting a little of the knowledge he's picked up in leading the Bills to four Super Bowls.
``The quarterback always throws every ball with a purpose,'' he advised. ``Pick a target: Right shoulder, left shoulder.''
The 13-and-under contingent seemed much more smitten with Kelly's status, gleeful to slap him with a high-five on the Busch Field artificial turf.
``Who's your idol?'' he asked, listening as the kids spewed out names of today's NFL greats.
``Jerry Rice.''
``Barry Sanders.''
``Emmitt Smith.''
And finally the answer Kelly was looking for.
``You.''
``I was going on until somebody said me,'' said Kelly, who admired Joe Namath and Terry Bradshaw while growing up in Pittsburgh. Kelly said he was 10 when he aspired to be a pro quarterback and learned the importance of putting the team first. The night before his team played for the city championship, Kelly said he beefed up on hot dogs and cupcakes and found himself two pounds over the league's weight limit the next morning.
``We wound up losing the game, losing the championship,'' he said. ``Individual sports are golf and tennis. Football, basketball, baseball - they're team sports. I know this might be hard to hear for guys your age, but the team always comes first.''
Kelly, who attended the University of Miami, also stressed hitting the books hard - and early. ``How many quarterbacks in the NFL didn't go to college?'' he asked. None of the campers offered any names.
Afterward, Kelly quarterbacked some plays with a squad of eager receivers. Irby Lemons, a senior at New Kent, made the prettiest reception of the morning, a 40-yard bomb on a post pattern.
``I caught a pass from Jim Kelly!'' he shouted, raising his arms on the way back to the huddle. Lemons, who plays quarterback at New Kent, said he benefited during Kelly's two-hour stay. ``He taught us a lot of stuff,'' he said. ``How to hold the ball, read defenses.''
Long before Kelly's glory days with the Bills - he was drafted by Buffalo in 1983 but spent two years with the USFL's Houston Gamblers before signing in '86 - Kelly also attended football camps at Penn State.
``I wanted to play for Penn State, but they wanted me as a linebacker,'' he said. ``So I said thanks, but no thanks.''
But he rarely turns down requests to work camps, especially one so close to family. Two of his brothers attended the University of Richmond, and Kelly, 36, says he's looking at land there next week, planning to make it home once his NFL career ends.
Kelly, entering the final year of his six-year contract, says he is pain-free after shoulder surgery in January and looking forward to a season with ``the best Buffalo Bills team since I've been a player.'' He calls his corps of receivers - Quinn Early, Andre Reed, Eric Moulds and Steve Tasker - the finest he's worked with.
``This is the year we have the best shot at it,'' he said.
Before facing a throng of fans awaiting autographs in the parking lot, Kelly spoke a few more private words to the campers, minus the parents and press spying in the background. As the campers dispersed for lunch, Matt Grayson, a junior fullback at Warren County High in Northern Virginia, said Kelly, and the others pros who visited Williamsburg this week - Reggie White, Kordell Stewart and Willie Roaf - stressed the same lesson.
``All the pros say it takes a lot of work,'' he said.'
That's the message Kelly wanted to deliver the most. ``If they can walk away knowing they learned something,'' he said, ``then it's worth my visit.'' ILLUSTRATION: MIKE HEFFNER
The Virginian-Pilot
Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly talks to participants in the
Colonial All-Pro Football Camp at William and Mary. by CNB